For those who are councillors the opportunity to retain a seat in the next local government elections is diminished.
For Otago and for ratepayers however, local government is overwhelmingly good.
If we proceed down the path of one unitary council in Otago there are significant gains to be had.
We will get a rates demand from one council not two.
This signifies that there is only one council you need to interact with: one contact to find, one place to ask when you need or may need council consent.
There will be more room for coherent local voices.
Public transport in Queenstown and Dunedin is currently managed and rated for by the Otago Regional Council (ORC).
When decisions are made they are made by a majority of councillors who do not live in the areas where the transport is being provided and the rates are collected.
A unitary council covering the whole of Otago could be organised to have these decisions made by councillors who have been chosen by those voters in the areas where public transport operates.
That would give much better opportunity for local voices.
To be listened to generally by your council one unitary council would be better.
Currently every council is asking what we think about everything.
Then the councils talk to each other about what we think, then they make submissions to each other.
Every time, in every room collections of a dozen or more people talk to each other and it costs ratepayers heaps.
One unitary council will reduce the overwhelming amount of consenting too.
Currently planning is done by various overlapping council entities.
The resultant plans are ridiculously complicated.
It is near impossible to get any idea of whether you are allowed to do something without many thousands of dollars of planning advice and significant delays.
At the end of the process you still may be unsure and need to go to court to sort the issue out.
This has encouraged fast-track processes with less chance of local input.
None of this would be necessary if we had one council providing an efficient process.
How good would it be if you could find out yourself through one council what you can and can’t do, and what the rules are around activities you want to do?
There are also opportunities when there are a much smaller number of councils in New Zealand to have them administer national rules more consistently.
Each council spends significant amounts of our money finding ways to interpret legislation such as the Building Act with local flair, despite it not being an option under the Act.
Opportunities for local voices in shaping planning rules would be enhanced by having one unitary council.
Under present arrangements it is possible for the same so-called ‘‘stakeholders’’ to be consulted with by various councils and the voice of the people being pretty much ignored.
If it was all one council with one process we could demand to be given the information to understand who is saying what around such issues.
Maybe we could even treat residents/ratepayers as ‘‘stakeholders’’ and publicise proposed consents and planning proposals to all equally rather than going as a priority to groups who are more than capable of keeping an eye out for issues dear to their hearts.
Port Otago is yet another reason why one unitary is a great way to go for Otago.
Port Otago belongs to all of us.
Any attempt to drag any part of it away from our whole ownership is fraught.
If Dunedin is looking to deal with its debt to become more attractive to the rest of Otago look at assets you already own in Dunedin City Holdings.
Sell Aurora, look at City Forests; we need to keep Port Otago as an Otago asset.
We can be so much better for the people of Otago with one unitary council.
Less duplication, easier to deal with, better for having our say and more bangs for bucks in carrying our functions generally.
But perhaps the most important reason for having one council for all of Otago is that the environment needs to be understood and protected.
It would be a huge backward step to attempt to do this with multiple unitary councils.
Scale matters for environmental work, for producing good science to inform decisions and to monitor the results of activities to see the effects we are having on the environment.
Pests do not respect borders.
Flood protection work cannot be done without consideration of the entire catchments of our precious rivers.
We must retain the entire catchments of the Clutha in one council.
Likewise the Waitaki needs to be protected and managed and controlled by one authority.
For the best environmental outcomes all of Otago needs to contribute to the effort.
The ORC has shown that a council can work for the whole region and create efficiencies in the areas where it has some control.
It may not be coincidental that the ORC is not putting its rates up for next year.
There will be money saved, within council and by the people of Otago.
Opportunities are there for much better results from the money that is being spent.
• Hilary Calvert is chairwoman of the Otago Regional Council. These are her personal views, not views expressed on behalf of the ORC.
